NOTHING, in my book, threatens whatever is left of the glue that is struggling to hold together the multipolar world order than the blatant double-standard of the Western powers.
Since October 7, following the unfortunate attack of Hamas on Israel, a raft of articles have been written and scores of television and radio news packages put together every minute, hour, day and every week.
Overall, the global coverage has revealed, perhaps inadvertently, the hypocrisy of the most powerful governments of the global north.
For some weird reason, the rush by most Western powers to mimic the US foreign policy makes a mockery of the notion of “national interest” that lies at the heart of crafting any foreign policy.
But let me cut to the chase: The deliberate blindness to Israel’s genocidal military onslaught first in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and now in the occupied territories that are governed by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) poses more questions than the US-led argument for Israel’s right and “obligation” to “self-defence”.
It entire diplomatic fiasco that the West continue to desperately peddle as a legitimate response to the October 7 episode exposes the hitherto well-camouflaged and deep-seated anti-Palestinian sentiment and agenda to de-legitimise the UN resolution for two-state solution.
But let now turn to the unmasked double-standard diplomacy of most western powers.
Remember the speed with which the International Criminal Court (ICC) was pressured by the West to issue a warrant of arrest for the Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged relocation of Ukrainian children?
The Kremlin had argued that the children were moved from the Donbass region – constantly under the bombardment of the Ukrainian forces – for their own safety to a more secure region inside Russia.
However, in the midst of a chorus of “abduction” by anti-Russian US-led NATO bloc, the ICC swiftly moved in as if to fulfil a prophecy.
Fast track to the current Israeli genocide – not a Special Military Operation – the same western powers that constantly accused Russia of “crimes against humanity” for noticeably far less than the brutish military force of the Israelis are stoically behind the genocide of the Palestinians.
However, what is of great importance is the recent voting pattern at the UN General Assembly on the Gaza conflict. More than 100 nations voted for an immediate ceasefire in order to save whatever remains of the Palestinian nation.
The vote exposed one this crystal clearly: Only a few but powerful Western nations led by the US are arrogantly behind Israel’s brutality inside Palestine.
Earlier, at the UN Security Council whose resolutions are binding in law, the US stopped censure against Israel, using its veto power to thwart any adverse resolution against apartheid Israel.
But then again, the global human spirit continues to rise in favour of a ceasefire. The US-led bloc that include great colonial powers in the form of France, UK and Germany whose legacy still runs riot across the global south, are getting isolated by the day.
Domestically, their own electorate is exasperated with their stubborn stance on what is explicitly brutal campaign by Israel to extinguish Palestine and wipe it off the map.
So far Israel has killed more than 11 000 Palestinians as part of what the UN regard as collective punishment in response to the attack by Hamas.
In all this, very little reference is made to the source of the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied the Palestine land in what has come to be known as the “Nakba”.
However, through the years, Israeli occupation of Palestine has grown worse that apartheid in South Africa. For Palestinians, there are no freedoms whatsoever.
To work inside the Jewish state or even to visit a medical facility there, Palestinians are required to apply for a permit from the occupation forces known as the IDF (Israel Defence Force)
Palestinians must at all times carry what we in SA during apartheid called a “dompas”, a kind of an identity document that would be stamped to control an individual’s movement.
Hamas was founded in the late 1970s as a direct response to the growing brutality of the invaders of their land. The popularity of Hamas coincided with the decline in popularity of the PLO, which the new Palestinian generation of activists saw as too soft in rebellion against Israeli tyranny.
Already, the US and Israel are talking about post-Hamas Gaza Strip. They refuse to accede to international pressure for a cessation of hostilities. Their stated mission is to rid the Gaza Strip and the entire Palestinian territory of Hamas.
What a big mistake they are making! They can destroy Hamas in its current form, but the resistance movement will surely resurface under a different guise for as long as a two-state solution that guarantees Palestinian statehood remains a mirage.
Through all the ongoing messy geopolitical saga, many western nations stand correctly accused alongside the ICC of hypocrisy.
As the erudite Dr Naledi Pandor, SA Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation noted in parliament this week, the ICC has more ground to act against the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu than they did when they acted against President Putin.
Netanyahu and his war cabinet are on record deliberately displacing the Palestinian people and driving them out of their territory into the neighbouring states such as Jordan and Egypt.
Israel has killed more than 4 000 children including newly-born babies. They’ve also killed more than 3000 women. The Jewish state has laid a cruel siege of Gaza and the occupied territories.
They have cut off the supply to Gaza of fuel that is required for, amongst others, the running of medical facilities and the UN programmes.
They’ve cut the supply of electricity, water, food and the international aid. Israel creates hunger and starvation for Palestinians and uses such hardships as a weapon of war.
Yet the ICC sees no reason issue a warrant for the arrest of Netanyahu and his war cabinet. Strange - in fact, stranger than fiction.
As if the art of western hypocrisy wasn’t terrible enough for world peace, the US want the international community to believe that Washington has the interest of the Palestinian people at heart. This is despite vetoing UNSC resolutions ending the war, and free and safe passage for the delivery of aid to Gaza.
The US shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East seeks to keep the Arab nations at bay in order to allow Israel a free passage to extinguish Palestine. The US fighter jet carriers have been positioned in the region to frighten any anti-Israel forces from getting involved in the conflict.
Washington in engaged in double-speak. They want the world to believe that they care, yet on the other hand they arm and defend Israel at global forums such as the UN.
As all hospitals in Gaza cease to operate due to the footage of medicines and the constant bombardment of anything that moves by the IDF aided by the US, history will surely judge warmongers harshly.
As for the ICC, if at all the body fails to issue a warrant to arrest Netanyahu and co, they must simply close shop.
Their legitimacy lies in ruins. To salvage whatever is left of it, the ICC must act in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the dictates of international humanitarian law.
I rest my case.
Sunday Independent